A hedonic model of Illinois farmland values is estimated using county-level cross-section time-series
data. Explanatory variables include land productivity, parcel size, improvements, distances to Chicago
and other large cities, an urban–rural index, livestock production through swine operation scale and
farm density measures, population density, income, and inflation. The inclusion of spatial and serial
correlation components substantially improves the model fit. Farmland values decline with parcel
size, ruralness, distance to Chicago and large cities, and swine farm density, and increase with soil
productivity, population density, and personal income.